The Connection Runners

'Ray Bucknell!

It's not often that I get to say this about my alma mater, but we're going to the big dance! That's right, Bucknell is going to the NCAA tournament. We handily defeated Lafayette 72-57 (not that I actually watched the game).

For other teams, going to the tournament is no big deal. But for us, the rather-athletically-lackluster-Bison of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, it kind of is. When I went to Bucknell, I went to a few basketball games. But in all honesty, we didn't go because of the b-ball. I didn't follow it and I still don't. I went to those games because they'd give out pizza at half-time. Occasionally there'd be free pizza for everyone. And sometimes they'd give away a free pizza to the groups that made the most noise. That's why we went. To win the free pizza.

In 2005, Bucknell went to the tournament and beat KU. That was huge. I didn't even know that we were in the tournament or that we were playing KU. If I had known prior to the game, I probably wouldn't have cared anyway. I didn't know that KU was supposed to be good and that we're supposed to be bad. I just assumed we were bad because we had a crappy stadium (there's a new one now) and the games were poorly attended. I didn't learn that our defeat of KU was a notable event until I started receiving calls congratulating me on a good game. My response: "what game?"

You know, in retrospect the pizza that we'd occasionally win wasn't that good. Regardless, go Bison!